Tag: Present moment

Put very simply

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I define mindfulness as the practice of being fully present and alive, body and mind united. Mindfulness is the energy that helps us to know what is going on in the present moment. I drink water and I know that I am drinking the water. Drinking the water is what is happening.
Mindfulness brings concentration. When we drink water mindfully, we concentrate on drinking. If we are concentrated, life is deep, and we have more joy and stability. We can drive mindfully, we can cut carrots mindfully, we can shower mindfully. When we do things this way, concentration grows. When concentration grows, we gain insight into our lives. The principle of the practice is simple: to bring our minds back to our bodies, to produce our true presence, and to become fully alive.

Thich Nhat Hahn, The Moment is Perfect

Finding a deeper dimension to life

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To begin with, one needs to cultivate a practical conviction of the primacy of being over doing.  Our society values what one can do and this becomes the gauge of who one is.  The contemplative dimension of life is an insight into the gift of being human and inspires a profound acceptance and gratitude for that gift. Our culture is at a critical point because so many structures that supported human and religious values have been trampled upon and are disappearing. To find a way to discover Mystery in the midst of secular occupations and situations is essential, because for most people today it is the only milieu that they know.  Humanity as a whole needs a breakthrough into the contemplative dimension of life.  The contemplative dimension of life is the heart of the world.  If one goes to one’s own heart, one will find oneself in the heart of everyone else, and everyone else, as well as oneself, in the heart of ultimate Mystery.

Fr. Thomas Keating

Being curious and interested

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Whatever the scenery the practice is the same. Our practice is to face everything life is, and everything life isn’t. Everything we think and feel and everything we don’t. Wall gazing is a very thorough practice in facing the fleetingness of things, and not getting trapped in momentary apparitions. All apparitions, as it turns out, are momenttary.When your eyes are open and you are intimately engaged with what appears in front  of  you, it’s hard to stay bored because nothing stays one way for long.

Karen Maezen Miller, Booooring….

Stop trying to make things different

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The easiest way to relax is to stop trying to make things different. Rather than trying to create another state, simply allow space for whatever is going on. If you sit down after being busy and your mind feels agitated or chaotic, try just seeing that state for what it is and accepting it. You might frame your whole mind-body expereince with the mental note “chaos, chaos”. Instead of having an agenda to change the quality of your energy, you enjoy the use of this simple key to just open to the energy that is there. This does not mean either spacing out or being entanglesd in your agitated thoughts. Rather, through accpetance we settle back into natural awarenss of whatever is present. Then things settle down by themselves in a natural way. Struggle comes  from not accepting what is present.

Joseph Goldstein, Insight Meditation

Letting yourself be

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Meditation is about letting the mind be as it is and knowing something about how it is in this moment.

It’s not about getting somewhere else,  but about allowing yourself to be where you already are.

Jon Kabat Zinn,  Wherever you go, there you are

The only moment we actually have

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We do not need some ideal or romantic fairy tale of what would be best for us.

What we need most is what is already given to us: the actuality of things as they are in the only moment we will ever have –  this one.

Jon Kabat Zinn, Mindfulness for Beginners.